Yato
Yato (夜ト), is one of the main characters of the Noragami series. He is a homeless, jersey-wearing boy who is actually minor deity, and hopes to one day build a grand shrine for himself and have at least 1.2 billion followers. Yato is not acknowledged as a major god, but he does possess the ability to cut all who pass between this world and the next. Yato also has some sort of connection with the Ayakashi's "puppet master". Appearance Yato is a young man of average height with shaggy black hair that reaches to his neck, and bright blue eyes. He is often seen wearing a jersey and track pants and a old white bandana/cloth around his neck. He is also seen wearing a pair of brown knee-length boots. In his imagination, Yato wears a red cape and a golden crown, and is often seen with a pink fan. Personality Yato can be crude and unpredictable, although it is hinted that he can also be a cruel and merciless person. This is strongly implied by Kofuku, who introduces the rumor that he once killed a Shinki and several humans (according to Daikoku, this happened a long time ago, where the rule was "kill or be killed."). These actions might have been motivated by his need to at least exist in people's memories. He answers people's prayers and demands money in return for his help (5 yen, the amount that is traditionally placed in a shrine before praying). He graffitis his cellphone number in various places, but it only appears to people in desperate need of his aid. History One day, a girl named Mutsumi calls him as a last-ditch effort when she sees his number scrawled on the wall of a toilet cubicle. Desperate, she begs him to stop her classmates from bullying her. He and his Shinki, Tomone, destroy the phantom that had appeared outside the school, a result of her fellow classmates' anxiety due to the approaching exams, but this does not stop the bullying. So Yato severs her relationship with her classmates, thus making her an outsider, which allows her to start a new relationship with her peers. Episode 1 Mutsumi is sitting in her classroom, and is being bullied by her classmates, when she sees a "phantom" outside her classroom window. She prays to God to save her. Yato responds by tossing and catching a 5 yen coin, and then destroys the phantom with his Shinki (Divine Weapon).After writing his cellphone number on a wall in a park, he eventually gets a call about "Milord" being missing. It turns out that this call, was in fact about a missing cat named "Milord." Yato finds the cat in the middle of the road and chases it, where he is pushed out of the way of a bus by Iki Hiyori. After Hiyori awakens in her family's hospital and spends the night, she is awoken by the voices of phantoms, and finds Yato in her bed. She retreats with cat-like reflexes. After telling her that she is the first human to ever save him, Yato introduces himself as a god. The two talk, and Yato leaves via the window. A few days later, Yato uses catnip to find Milord, and is then attacked by a phantom which Milord was teasing. Hiyori then appears and runs away with Yato. After Hiyori attacks the phantom, and the two manage to lose it, Yato ponts behind her (at her "tail") and tells Hiyori that her soul has leaked out. Hiyori collapses back into her body. Yato returns Milord to his home and carries Hiyori. After she wakes up and calls Yato a pervert, he explains about her being stuck in between the Far Shore (in human terms, the afterlife) and the Near Shore (where the living reside). Hiyori asks for his help, seeing as he is a god, and he holds up five fingers and requests money in return. Hiyori mistakes the cost for 50,000 yen, and 500,000 yen, but Yato tells her the correct amount, 5 yen. Episode 2 Yato gets a call from Hiyori, who doubts his claims that he is a god because he is yet to help her, and he appears next to her suddenly, asking that, if he weren't a god, how could he do that? He then tells her that he cannot do anything without a Shinki. He then gets a call from someone asking for help (it turns out to be cleaning the mould from a bathroom wall) and disappears. Hiyori then takes it upon herself to find a Shinki for him. After Yato gets yet another call from Hiyori, who claims to have found a Shinki, he yet again appears before her only to find that the so-called Shink she found was a bona-fide phantom. Hiyori then tries to attack it but is stopped by Yato, who pulls on her "tail." Yato is then bitten by the phantom. He injures it, causing the phantom to temporarily retreat. He prevents Hiyori from touching his injury, explaining that his arm has been "blighted," which is a type of defilement that spreads, and that unless it is excorcised or cleansed, it remains and eats away at you. Yato then explains that Hiyori's "tail" is not a tail, but a lifeline that connects her physical and ethereal forms. They then retreat once more from the phantom from before. Yato stops dead in his tracks because he found an uncorrupted spirit. He claims it as his Shinki, and it transforms into its weapon form, a katana. Yato then sees a flashback of the spirit's memories and stands still on the top of a powerpole, seemingly in shock, and then starts to collapse. He is then eaten by the phantom, katana in hand. Hiyori screams his name, and Yato, inside the phantom, opens his eyes and chants. He then kills the phantom, and lands on powerlines, and then falls to the ground. He lays on the ground for a moment, crying. Later, he is seen cleansing his hand with the katana propped up beside him. He tells Hiyori that the katana's name is Yuki, and less formally, Yukine. The katana then reverts to his human form, a teenage boy with blond hair and orange eyes. As Yuki is cold, Yato offers him is jersey top, but the former rejects it, stating that it reeks of sweat. This leaves Yato standing in a state of shock with a blank look on his face. Abilities Excorcising of Phantoms: Using his Shinki, Yato is able to destroy Phantoms. This ability is first seen when Yato uses Tomone to destroy the phantom outside Mutsumi's school. Teleportation: This ability is used by Yato in order to get from job to job more quickly. He has also used this ability to reach Hiyori quickly when she calls him. Two notable examples of this ability are when she expresses her doubt of his godhood, and when she claims to have found a Shinki. Severance: Yato, using his Shinki, has the ability to sever the ties of people, be it with other humans, gods, or specific memories in general. Trivia *The name Yato (夜ト) means night (夜) and the katakana syllable to (ト). This most likely means stopped night. as the character to (ト) is an adaptation from the word stop (止) during the heian period of Japan. This may be a possible reference that Yato is 1200 years of age or younger. Category:Characters Category:Male